Course Syllabus

Text: Seeing the Light , by David Falk, Dieter Brill and David Stork (Wiley, 1986). This book will be used as recommended reading: several copies are available on reserve in the library.

Instructor: Joseph Maclennan

Office: Gamow Tower F513, in Duane Physics

Telephone: 303-492-7543

E-mail: jem@colorado.edu

Books on Reserve in Gemmill Library 
Copies of the course textbook as well as a couple of other useful texts are on reserve.

Prerequisites:  High school-level algebra or equivalent qualification is required.

Clickers

You will need an i>clicker to participate in this class. You must register your clicker at the start of each school year, using your IdentiKey, even if you have registered it before. To facilitate this, OIT has provided a link to the registration page at mycuinfo.colorado.edu. It is suggested that you use your IdentiKey username (like "elvis1230") and not your numerical Student ID (as the i>clicker registration page suggests).

Lectures

Tuesday and Thursday 3:30 PM–4:45 PM
Duane Physics Building, room G1B-20  

Helproom Hours

Prof. Maclennan will be available Mondays 3:00–5:00pm, in Duane F-513 (5th floor of the Gamow Tower)

If you cannot come during these hours, please make an appointment.

Dedicated help is also available from the course TA Aksahy Sheshadri (Akshay.Seshadri@Colorado.Edu) in the Physics Helproom (basement of Duane Physics room G2B-90), on Tuesdays from 11 am to 12 pm and on Wednesdays from 12 pm to 1 pm.

Note that you may go to the Helproom at any time and request assistance from any available Physics TA: write the course number (1230) and your name on the blackboard.

Course Websites

Course homepage with all course information, class notes, homework solutions, and grades: https://canvas.colorado.edu

You can also reach the home page via  https://physics.colorado.edu/phys1230

Course Description

Physics 1230 "Light and Color" is a course about the science of light, color, and visual perception. The course is designed for students in fields outside the natural sciences and engineering who are interested in what they see in nature and in how modern technology in homes and businesses works. The course covers material on light, reflection and refraction of light, lenses, lasers, applications in photography, and methods of light sensing. The course meets MAPS requirements for natural science: chemistry or physics. This course should not be taken by students with a math MAPS deficiency. It is approved for Arts & Sciences core curriculum: natural science.

Overall Course Goals

This course is about about the science of optics: light, vision, and visual perception. In other words, what we see, how our eye sees it, and how our brain makes sense of it. Without material objects, light to interact with them, eyes that sense light, and a brain to make sense of all the information, we would not be able to observe the world as we do. Many of the observations that we make in our lives rely to some degree on the nature of light and how we perceive that light. It is fun and useful to understand visual perception in order to recognize the connections between each of us and our world.

This course will help you get in touch with your inner scientist – your curiosity and interest in fiddling with the world and poking it to see what happens – within the field of optics. We will explore many fascinating areas of optics which we can directly observe – pinhole images, mirrors, lenses, our eyes, our perception of color and depth, art and photography. We will use the language and tools of physics to explore, to notice, to wonder, and to draw conclusions about the world. We will use demonstrations, mini-experiments, and observations from your own life.

This class is fundamentally interactive. Please use the opportunity to engage in the content. We will work together in groups during class, on clicker questions, in-class worksheets, and reflection on your problem solutions. Please take up these opportunities for us to learn together. We hope that these activities will help you learn and deepen your appreciation for the class content.

At the end of this course, each of you should be able to:

1.   Appreciate the beauty in optics, including the nature of light and the nature of vision and perception.
2.   Appreciate the role that physics plays in deepening our understanding of the world, particularly in terms of optics.
3.   Cultivate and explore your own curiosity about optical phenomena, including the ability to make observations, wonder about something, and propose further explorations to better understand it.
4.   Analyze a scientific argument: Identify the claim that is being made, the evidence or data which supports it, and the reasoning (or "warrant") that connects the two.
5.   Explain the physics behind both everyday and unusual optical phenomena without relying on complicated mathematics.
6.   Predict, using words and/or numbers as appropriate, what will be observed when given a particular situation (such as a light source, image formed by lenses, observing an object reflected in mirrors, the color that is perceived under certain situations).
7.   Make numerical predictions accurately: be able to identify the appropriate algebraic equation, re-arrange it to solve for the desired variable, and solve.
8.   Apply principles discussed in the class to your everyday life and/or your field of study.

Official course details

Change of registration

Add/drop deadlines may be found on the university website.

Exams

Hour exams will be given in Duane G1B-20 during class, typically on Tuesdays. There will be no early or late exams given and no make-up exams. You should bring a simple mathematical calculator to class and the exams. Sharing of calculators during exams and quizzes and the use of cell phones at any time will not be allowed.   Only one excused absence from an exam for medical or family emergencies is allowed.  To be excused you must notify the instructor by email before the exam, and you must provide a physician's note or other documentation to the instructor within two weeks of the exam.  If you failed to contact the instructor before the exam, you must provide documentation why a medical condition made this impossible. The missed exam score will be set to the average of the other midterm exam scores. If you are absent for any other reason you will receive a zero on the exam.

Mid-term exam solutions will be posted on the course website on Canvas.

Exam Dates

Mid-term(s): Tuesday, 1 October, Tuesday 12 November

Final Exam: Wednesday, 18 December, 4:30–7 pm

Homework

Homework assignments will generally be due at the beginning of class on the due date. This deadline is absolute; there will be no partial credit for late assignments so it is good to plan to have your assignment in on time.  Permission for exceptions from the normal class work schedule must be requested in advance. Homework will be graded generously, with partial credit for problems that are not completely correct.

Homework solutions will be available on the course website on Canvas, normally a couple of days after the homework deadline.

Special Project (Provisional)

You may be doing a group project as part of your final grade in the class. This is intended to be a fun way to express some creativity, as well as to demonstrate that you are able to do some basic exploration in an area of optics. We recommend that you work in groups of 2-3; the larger the group, the higher the expectations will be of the scope of the final project. Note that your chosen topic, and the people in your group, will be due one week in advance of the actual project. You may create your own project idea or choose from a list provided. For example, a group might form around a common interest (e.g., photography, theater, or art), or create a diverse team to answer a question of interest to all (why do fluorescent lights seem "cold"?). The tentative due date for the final project is 7 December. More details of the project requirements will be provided in class.

Grades

Grading philosophy: the amount you will learn depends on how much thought and practice you put in distributed sensibly over the term. 

Your grade in the course will be determined from your total number of points earned.  You will receive points from homework solutions (30%), in-class participation, including iClickers and group work (15%), special project (10%, if we end up doing special projects this semester), and exams (45%).   Letter grades will be assigned to your point total according to a combination of absolute scale and modified curve.  To pass the course you must receive at least half of the total number of points possible to be earned. 

The grades on homework will typically be very high, so failing to turn in several assignments, and thereby getting a zero will have a big impact on your grade.

Homework and exam grades will be posted on Canvas.

Ground Rules

Please show respect and consideration for others and let's work together for a good classroom learning experience. Please do not talk when the instructor is lecturing or another student is speaking. Using cell phones or laptops and reading newspapers in class are not allowed. If you arrive late, please come in quietly. The university's official classroom behavior policy may be viewed at http://www.colorado.edu/policies/student-classroom-and-course-related-behavior

Students with Disabilities: Any students with disabilities should notify the instructor within the first two weeks of class. Students with specific physical, psychiatric, or learning disabilities should also notify the Counselor for Students with Disabilities, Disability Services Office, located in Willard 322 (phone303-492-8671). All recommendations for accommodations must be in writing from Disability Services.  

Religious Obligations – Conflicts with Scheduled Exams, Assignments or Class Attendance: The instructor will make every effort to accommodate all students who, because of religious obligations, have conflicts with scheduled exams, assignments, or other required attendance, provided you notify him at least two weeks in advance of the scheduled conflict. The campus policy can be viewed at http://www.colorado.edu/policies/observance-religious-holidays-and-absences-classes-andor-exams.

Honor Code

The purpose of an Honor Code at the University of Colorado at Boulder is to secure an environment where academic integrity, and the resulting behavior, can flourish. The Honor Code recognizes the importance of honesty, trust, fairness, respect, and responsibility and wishes these principles to be a defining part of the CU-Boulder campus. The Honor Code allows all students to have responsibility for, and the ability to attain, appropriate recognition for their academic and personal achievements. You can view the honor code information at http://www.colorado.edu/policies/student-honor-code-policy.

Disclaimer

Any information in this syllabus is as accurate as possible at the time of writing. Future announcements about changes of any kind will be made in class, and posted on the web, and will take precedence over the original syllabus. You are responsible for knowing what is said in class, whether or not you are in attendance.